This blog is a great opportunity to share ideas about ways to
transform schooling as we know it, to help all students realise their
talents, passions and dreams. Be great to hear from anyone out there! Feel free to add a comment to Bruce's Blog and enter e-mail to receive postings

Another year is ending, which means in New
Zealand and Australia, it’s also the end of the school year, and time for
teachers and children to have a long summer break away from the trials of
teaching and learning. Make the most of the break - it’s the only real chance
teachers get to have a ‘normal’ life.

Have a great break

I will be taking my own advice and also
having a break from sourcing education articles for these reading lists, until
the end of January 2017. However I'm not letting you off that easy, so this
week’s list is a bit longer than usual.

‘Brain-based learning promotes the idea that children learn faster
if they are taught differently. But why push children to learn faster than ever
before? Why turn children into adults before they are ready? What’s the
purpose?

What right do educators and parents under the spell of
indiscriminate brain-based learning hucksters have to destroy childhood?’

Recent world events suggest critical thinking is
a skill that is sadly lacking.

‘Critical thinking is about thinking for yourself rather than
accepting, without questioning, the

thinking someone else presents to you.
Critical thinking identifies and examines underlying assumptions and biases
about a concept, a discourse, a work of art or written expression, or some
other abstract idea. It involves judgement – your judgement, which is justified
with reasons and evidence.’

‘Of course, critical thinking is an essential part of a student’s
mental equipment. However, it cannot be detached from context. Teaching
students generic ‘thinking skills’ separate from the rest of their curriculum
is meaningless and ineffective.’

‘Decades of research provides evidence that play is the most
valuable and successful way in which children engage in learning. Through
play, children can build all the necessary skills and knowledge required of
them in readiness for adulthood. Social-learning theory, constructivism,
cognitive development theories, socio-emotional theories and physical
development theories all uphold the power play has in the holistic development
of children.’

What does the post-truth world hold for teachers and educational
researchers?

‘I wonder about the correlation between increasing systems of
surveillance and control over curriculum and pedagogy and the growing number of
high stakes testing regimes, audit and accountability technologies, and the
narrative of slipping standards, declining outcomes and an education system in
crisis.’

‘On my list, one aim is paramount: “Maximize learner ability to make
sense.” Not only does it enable every other legitimate aim of educating, it
gives schooling its proper focus—maximizing human potential. No one needs to be
taught how to make sense—to think. We’re born equipped to do it. The challenge
is to do it better, to radically improve what are sometimes called “higher
order” thinking skills, particularly those involved in tracing complex causal
sequences and anticipating possible unintended consequences of well-intended
policies and actions.’

Let’s face it “21st century skills” are a bit
meh! Especially when they have no context.

‘So frequently is this phrase used in the discourse on education
today that when uttered it generates involuntary winces amongst those
listening. On the education conference circuit “21st century skills” is the
certainty on the buzzword bingo card. Never mind that we’re almost at the end
of the second decade of a century that is the only one that every child in
school has ever known. To be fair, it’s a well-intentioned phrase used by
well-intentioned people. I’m sure it’s a phrase that’s passed my lips on more
than one occasion even before I saw the foolishness of it.’

‘Five years ago, I got my first job as a teacher. My dream job. My
dream school. I could not have been happier: life was good. Then, five months
ago, despite my passion and idealism, I broke down and accepted that my dream
for an education focused on divergent thinking, individuality, and genuine
learning was horribly unrealistic, hindered by bureaucratic disconnect and
systemic devaluation. It became clear that the job which originally brought me
so much excitement, wasn’t at all as I thought. In fact, genuine creation and
effective collaboration would be forever secondary to administrative agendas, systemic
mandates, and a tireless effort to maintain the status quo.’

How useful are standards in helping teachers’ professional
development?

Not very…

National Standards have disorted educvation

‘Governing texts such as national professional standards and a
national curriculum can have the unintended effectof constraining
opportunities for teachers to learn about their work. This occurs when they are
interpreted in ways that encourage coverage of individual standards. However, I
believe, when teachers are supported to engage in authentic, contextually
appropriate professional learning that is focused on their learning needs in
relation to the learning of their students, they can transform their practice.’

How to Integrate Growth Mindset Messages Into Every Part of Math
Class

‘Catherine Good has experienced stereotype threat herself, although
she didn’t know it at the time. She started her academic career in pure math,
expecting to get a Ph.D. But somewhere along the way she started to feel like
it just wasn’t for her, even though she was doing well in all her classes.
Thinking that she’d just chosen the wrong application for her love of math,
Good switched to math education, where she first encountered the idea of
stereotype threat from a guest psychology speaker.’

‘While I am aware that setting clear
standards are important, making sure we communicate our learning goals with
students, co-creating success criteria… and that these have been shown to
increase student achievement, I can’t help but wonder how often we take away
our students’ thinking and decision making when we do this before students have
had time to explore their own thoughts first.’http://bit.ly/29WT7tf

If there’s a magic bullet to fix education outcomes, it starts with
equity

Things aren’t good in Australia either.

‘Kids are disengaged, results are declining, school only works for a
third of students. And in

fortuitous timing, education ministers are meeting
this week. With the end of the school education year comes the ritual release
of end-of-school exam results. Once again we’ll parade the names of the top 100
schools and marvel at those that seem to do so well.

At the risk of raining on their parade it is all very predictable:
two thirds of the top 100 are still there when the schools are ranked by the
socio-educational level of the parents. Even the public/private school
comparisons are largely spurious: results coming out of schools enrolling
similar students don’t vary much between the school sectors.’

‘John Dewey's famous declaration concerning education was first
published 1897 and is still as pertinent now as it was then. All school
communities ought to declare their beliefs about education and then work
towards aligning all their teaching to achieving what they believe in. If they
do not determine their own destiny someone else will. Having clear beliefs
provides both security and the basis of making all choices - or simply saying
no as appropriate. The following are excerpts from Dewey's declaration.’

‘Since the early 90s society has been reshaped by a neo liberal
corporate ideology. An emphasis on private enterprise and self-centred
individualism has replaced an earlier concern for collective good of all
members of society. As a result of this ideological shift a wider gap
has been created between the rich and poor causing a number of social concerns.
Schools as part of this shift have been transformed from a community
orientation to being part of a competitive cut throat ideology.’

‘Daniel
Pink’s latest book, ‘A whole New Mind: Drive’,
subtitled ‘the surprising truth about what motivates us’, is truly exciting. He
writes that for too long school have relied on an extrinsic ‘carrot and stick
approach’ (or ‘name and blame’).The three things, he writes, that motivate us
all are: autonomy, mastery and purpose. Real learning is achieved when the joy
of learning is its own reward.’

‘One thing seems obvious to me, after several decades visiting
primary classrooms, is that real innovation only comes from creative
teachers and not from imposed programmes. Unfortunately, all
too often, creative teachers are the last ones to be listened to in this era of
school consistency and formulaic 'best practices'. It seem we

are moving
towards a standardised approach to learning at the very time when we need to
value (and protect) our creative teachers and their creative students.’

Given the changes in New Zealand politics
recently, such as the sudden resignation of prime minister John Key (my pet
theory, which I’ve been espousing for many months, is that he timed this to
ensure he would get a knighthood before the election next year), as well as a
stampede of government ministers for the exit door, here are few articles from
a few years back about the government’s national standards based education
agenda.

A teacher's response to National's 'Education in Schools' policy

Those of us who spoke out against national
standards (and in some cases losing their careers as a result) in 2010 and 2011
are being proved correct. There is an increasing amount of evidence that is
demonstrating that the main outcomes has been harming children’s educational
and therefore life opportunities. How immoral is that?

‘I am saddened that this is the direction National want to take with
our education system. We have a world-leading curriculum and (as National
agree) excellent performance from our top students. However, we also have a long
tail of underachievement, primarily from our Maori and Pasifika students and
those from poorer backgrounds. Teacher input is only one aspect of learning – it
is difficult to learn if you are hungry, tired or worried.’

John Key and Mrs Tolley turn education into a McDonalds - principals
will now become managers complying to franchise

regulations.

‘Time will show John Key and Mrs Tolley to be the simplistic wreckers
they are. In the meantimecreative teachers will have to cope by going
underground and if the remainder can't see the problem then they will be
seen as complying with the destruction of an education system once held in high
esteem by educators (if not politicians and technocrats) around the
world.’

National's 'brighter future' doesn't include the students or their
teachers!

‘The current National Government has ignored educators worldwide and
opted for an accountants

view of education turning students into products and
schools into factories so as to give consumers a choice - but what a
choice!What many feared has come to pass. Populist political simplicity has won
the day!If you repeat a half truth (one in 5 students are failing) without also
factoring in the effects of poverty and poor health of unknown in other
civilised countries. One fifth of our students live in distressing poverty
(that is, of course, 1 in 5).’

‘Well, friends, today was PISA day. The day when all media outlets
around the world breathlessly pronounce their education system is either “plummeting”
down the tables, or, through some miraculous miracle, soaring to new
educational heights.

Three years ago I ranted about this
nonsensical test, run by the OECD, which tests hundreds of thousands of 15 year
olds around the world on reading, maths and science. I’m listening to Garbage
on the Spotify at the moment and that is an incredibly apt word.’

‘In education policy, Pisa, with its three-year assessment cycle,
has caused a shift of attention to short-term fixes designed to help a country
quickly climb the rankings, despite research showing that enduring changes in
education practice take decades, not a few years, to come to fruition. For
example, we know that the status of teachers and the prestige of teaching as a
profession have a strong influence on the quality of instruction, but that
status varies strongly across cultures and is not easily influenced by
short-term policy.’

later in life cannot be conclusively reported
like final vote counts. But if we think of a student’s success as winning the
election, and the skills and knowledge PISA assesses as voters, what the polls
missed during Brexit and the 2016 U.S. presidential election provides some
interesting cautionary parallels.’

Thanks to Phil Cullen for this article about
Queensland, Australia, which can be adapted for other similar educationally
afflicted countries.

‘To comply with the current curriculum benchmarks, you cannot
do justice to children or their learning. It is not practical to run a
play-based curriculum AND meet the standards. If a child finds a caterpillar
outside, it if far more engaging and meaningful to talk about butterflies and
write and explore that, than to read a proscribed book and ask children about
how a character can change or what we could do differently.’

‘At the end of the school year it is a good idea to gather
information from the students you are passing on. Not only is this a chance for
you to get some insight about your teaching but it is also a great way to value
the ‘voice’ of your students. You might also like to think about developing a
similar survey for the beginning of next year to give some insight into student’s
attitudes that they bring with them to your class. You could include the
various learning areas, what they are expecting to gain from the year with you,
and what questions they would like to find out more about. You might be able to
work the later into a negotiated curriculum?’

‘Children who defy us often get to the core of our fears as
teachers. They make us question our abilities and provoke feelings of
insignificance. But when we rise above our own feelings and find
developmentally appropriate ways to respond to these students, we offer them a
path to success and a model of how to get along in the world.’

‘Children build on their strengths, and to do that building—to grow
academically and socially—they need us to recognize and encourage their
positive efforts. But what’s the best way to offer that recognition and
encouragement?’

‘A reality of teaching that all teachers know well is that no matter
how effectively we teach, no matter how hard students try, and no matter how
many good days the class has together, students will sometimes need more—more
direction, more support, more teaching, more time.’

‘Notes taken from John Taylor Gatto’s acceptance speech as New York
Teacher of the Year 1990.Gatto was recognized in Tom Peter’s (the business ‘guru’)
in his book ‘Re-Imagine’ published 2003 as an important future orientated
educator.‘We live in a time of great school crises, Gatto began his
presentation, ‘and we need to define and redefine endlessly what the word
education should mean. Something is wrong. Our school crisis is a reflection of
a wider social crisis – a society that lives in the constant present, based on
narcotic consumption’

‘We need to move beyond, ‘correcting past mistakes and attempting to
improve the quality and productivity of a quasi industrial form of production
in which children come in one end, are worked on by professionals and then exit
at the other end with the requisite skills and qualifications’.If it only
worked for all students there would not be any urgency to change but it is
becoming obvious that too many students fail –and even those that ‘succeed’ leave
without all their talents appreciated.’

‘One of Sarason’s forty odd books has a name that reflects his
lifetime theme ‘The Predictable Failure of School Reform’. He retired in 1989
as professor of clinical psychology at Yale University.Fried calls Sarason
a ‘cautious radical’ and a pragmatic idealist

Robert Fried

who staunchly defends classroom
teachers in one breathe and scolds them (and policy makers) in another for
their failure to make schools interesting places for teachers and children.’

‘The first sign of ‘wow’ is the overall first impression the room
gives you. The feeling you get is that you are indeed in special place. There
is a feeling of positive relationships between teacher and learners and often
parents are to be seen quietly helping students. Other students seem to be
working without supervision. A quick look around the walls, covered with
students creativity gives an impression that this is a room dedicated to the
students themselves.’

Wednesday, December 07, 2016

Student feedback to implement next year.

At the end of the school year it is a good idea to gather information from the students you are passing on. Not only is this a chance for you to get some insight about your teaching but it is also a great way to value the ‘voice’ of your students.

You might also like to think about developing a similar survey for the beginning of next year to give some insight into student’s attitudes that they bring with them to your class. You could include the various learning areas, what they are expecting to gain from the year with you, and what questions they would like to find out more about. You might be able to work the later into a negotiated curriculum?

How much have National Standards distorted your teaching?

For the students at the end of the year:

1. What have been the best things you have done this year? Why?

2. What would you liked to have done more of this year?

3. What didn’t we do that I wish we had?

4. In what way have I changed this year? What areas have I improved in, or grown to like more?

5. What were the things I didn’t like most this year?

6. What would you change about how I teach or the class?

7. If you were giving advice for next years students of how to survive in style in my room, what would you say to them?

Do teachers listen to students 'voice' or tailor learners to their plans?

Below are some interesting sentences for students to finish that will give you some idea of how they see schools, teachers and themselves.

A school is a place where……………..

A teacher is a person who…………………

A student is a person who………………

It is interesting to see what metaphors students come up with and if they see themselves as learners or someone who is taught things.

Do students see school as a place where teachers tell them what to do or a place full of opportunities to learn new things? Ideally it would be preferable for students to see their teacher as one who helps them learn for themselves not just a person who 'teaches' them things.Once again it would be preferably for students to see themselves as learners not people who do as expected by their teachers/school.

due to the
sensitivity of the subject, a small number 1% (11 respondents) declined to
answer. These results are extremely concerning because no matter how
subjective, for a majority of teachers to feel it is necessary to take time off
in order to recover from workplace stress and anxiety, there will inevitably be
consequences for the health and well-being of staff and potentially for the
quality of teaching and learning in NZ.’

‘I know too many people who are not educators (and some who are)
that are in favor of the choice movement in education. The biggest reason
people want choice is to improve the education for their own children and then
create competition so that other schools will be forced to improve or shut
down. Unfortunately, both reasons are based in misconceptions about education.’

‘I have just returned from Finland where if you can’t use the
internet you are massively hindered in your day to day activities as almost all
government/ municipal contact is done online. They have huge problems for
example with older people, immigrants and refugees, who cannot interact with
the system. It is becoming harder and harder to survive in society without
having the basic digital literacies.’

Increased automation has not reduced our
workload. Why not? What if it did?

‘So, I say, down with the work ethic, up with
the play ethic! We are designed to play, not to work. We are at our
shining best when playing. Let’s get our economists thinking about how to
create a world that maximizes play and minimizes work. It seems like a
solvable problem. We’d all be better off if people doing useless or
harmful jobs were playing, instead, and we all shared equally the necessary
work and the benefits that accrue from it.’

‘But when you define a standard, an ideal, you make certain choices –
you privilege some attributes and denigrate others. Since the people creating
the tests are almost exclusively upper middle class white people, it should
come as no surprise that that is the measure by which they assess success. Is
it any wonder then that poor kids and children of color don’t score as well on
these tests? Is it any wonder that upper middle class white kids score so
well?’

‘In the schools that Big Picture Learning envisioned, students would
be at the center their own education. They would spend considerable time in the
community under the tutelage of mentors and

they would not be evaluated solely
on the basis of standardized tests. Instead, students would be assessed on
exhibitions and demonstrations of achievement, on motivation, and on the habits
of mind, hand, and heart – reflecting the real world evaluations and
assessments that all of us face in our everyday lives.’

‘Child psychologists have long argued that changing the approach we take to education would help many children learn to love school rather than hate it. We've all heard pre-schoolers talk about how they can't wait to sit at
their school desk and run to their next lesson with their rucksack over their
shoulder. In fact, we probably remember that feeling of excitement ourselves
the first time we

went. But right from the first days of school, many children
feel a huge sense of disappointment with what they encounter.At the Saunalahti
school in the city of Espoo, Finland, they've found a brilliant way to overcome
this problem. Starting just with the school building itself, you'd look at it
and never think it was a school. Instead, it's more a like modern art museum -
wonderfully light and airy.’

‘Because disaffection with the education system reflects a much
deeper societal malaise, it’s imperative that we first figure out what kind of
world we really want: a world populated by responsible adults who thrive on
interdependence and community, or a world of “customers” who feel dependent on
products, services, and authority figures, and don’t take full responsibility
for their actions? The answer, he says, will point to the changes needed in all
three pillars of education — schools, families, and communities.’

‘There is a lot of talk about teaching thinking in schools and all
sorts of thinking processes are often seen on classroom walls. The trouble is
that more than talk and processes are required - there ought to be some real
evidence of students thinking to be seen. All too often was is seen is 'higher
order thinking for thin learning!’.'

‘A vision gives an organization a sense of direction, a purpose, but
only if it is ‘owned’ and translated into action by all involved. But vision is
not enough in itself. The values that any organization has are just as
important or even more so because they determine the behaviors that people
agree to live within. Alignment of people behind values is vital but too often
both vision and values are just words hidden in folders are rarely referred to.
What you do must reflect what you believe if there is to be integrity. And any
alignment needs to include students and parents as well.’

‘Unfortunately, the system isn’t designed for innovation. For
years, schools have been stuck in a one-size-fits-all factory model, where
students passively consume content. Some people will point out that this model
is outdated. However, I would argue that factory education was a bad idea from
the start. Because here’s the thing: kids aren’t widgets. While
one-size-fits-all works great for socks, it’s not ideal for minds. Kids
need to dream and wonder and imagine. They need to design and build and tinker. This
is why I love design thinking. It’s a flexible framework that guides students
through specific phases in the creative process.’

‘Fractions are a notoriously tricky part of elementary math
education for many children. Too often teachers struggle to ensure students are
grasping the conceptual underpinnings of this complicated

topic, resorting to “tricks”
that will help them learn the procedures of adding or multiplying instead. This
is particularly troubling because studies have shown that students’ knowledge
of sixth grade fractions is a good predictor of their math achievement in high
school. This is largely because a deep understanding of fractions plays out in
algebra.’

‘Many of the 21st Century skills that are emphasized today were
evident in the project that took place in 1988. It is not that this type
of learning is new. Heck, everything we see and hear for the most part is not
new. What has changed is how technology provides a new avenue to actively
integrate this type of learning in ways that many of us could never have imagined.
The key is to focus on project-based and authentic inquiry. Taking the
example I presented from my schooling consider the following elements and the
ubiquitous role technology should play…’

‘The study, published in AERA Open, a peer-reviewed journal of the
American Educational Research Association, also shows that teachers give lower
ratings to girls' math skills when girls and boys have similar achievement and
behavior. In addition, using two national datasets gathered more than a decade
apart, this study finds that teachers' lower ratings of girls are likely
contributing to the growth in the gender gap in math.’

‘The UK Government promised to ‘unleash greatness’ in English
schools with its radical school

autonomy plan to convert all schools to
independent academies. A new comprehensive review of the experience with
academies shows the plan is failing. It concludes that academies are an
imperfect way to address the challenges faced by struggling schools and their
students and that school autonomy has clear limits as a school reform
strategy.’

An environmental study for New Zealand teachers:A chance to do some
real inquiry: Harakeke study and other ideas

Bruce’s latest article - great suggestions that
can easily be adapted for other countries.

‘An environmentally alert teacher always keep
an eye open for interesting things to introduce to his, or her students.
November/December is an ideal time for environmental or ecological studies. My
visits to schools this term indicates such awareness is a lost art.’

‘The Deep Green Bush-School is a democratic nature-immersion
school for Years 1-13, based on thousands of years of indigenous wisdom and on
how humans actually evolved to learn - in freedom. Our highest priority is the
health and happiness of our children and future generations, and we will
nurture a new generation of young visionaries who will rise to the challenge
and help heal our world.’

‘Like other aspects of modern life, education can make the head
hurt. So many outcomes, so much important work to do, so many solutions and
strategies, so many variations on teaching, so many different kinds of students
with so many different needs, so many unknowns in preparing for 21st Century
life and the endless list of jobs that haven’t been invented.What if we
discovered one unifying factor that brought all of this confusion under one
roof and gave us a coherent sense of how to stimulate the intellect, teach
children to engage in collaborative problem solving and creative challenge, and
foster social-emotional balance and stability—one factor that, if we got right,
would change the equation for learning in the same way that confirming the
existence of a fundamental particle informs a grand theory of the universe?That
factor exists: It’s called empathy.’

Henry Giroux - lessons for New Zealand educators. Revitalizing the
role of public education.

‘I was recently sent a rather long article written by Henry Giroux.
I struggled to read it but I believe it is important to share the ideas he
writes about if the true aims of education are to realised.Giroux sees
education as central to the development of a just and democratic society
currently under attack by neo –liberal thinking.’

‘When anyone undertakes new learning ( including first appointment
as a principal or teacher)one starts in the 'novice' position. At this point
individuals need to know clearly what is expected of them and how to go about
it.As learning progresses the need for rule governed behaviour decreases. When
the 'expert' position is realised then people are able to use their experience
( having internalised rule governed behaviour). Such 'experts' are able to
'read' the context and make decisions intuitively.’

Transforming Secondary Education – the most difficult challenge of
all.Thoughts from a past age – ‘Young Lives at Stake’ by Charity James

‘So far the teaching profession has not offered creative
alternatives to parents. In contrast, school are becoming even more
conservative to cope with the political straitjacket of National Standards and
Ministry targets. Standardisation rather the personalisation is the current
political agenda. Time it seems for some courage from educators to provide
viable alternatives to parents. The field is open for change but any
alternative needs to be realistic, intrinsically interesting and relevant.’